


ASCHs to Ashes Chapter 1

by OliviaConnolly



Series: ASCHs to Ashes [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 17:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5880295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliviaConnolly/pseuds/OliviaConnolly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team ASCH takes the world by storm as their daring leader, Sapphire unleashes her new tandem attack on a menacing slab of stone in the courtyard of beacon academy and they're quickly roped into a battle with their professor and as a result set out on a daring quest against a powerful opponent with a mysterious power over the Grimm that inhabit the World of Remnant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ASCHs to Ashes Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter of a story that follows Sapphire and her on again off again girlfriend but always steadfast teammate Azor and their friends and teammates Calia and Ashford who while having a much more stable relationship have a harder time working out their issues off the battlefield. This is the introductory chapter and as such the relationships aren't really explicitly flushed out, but I promise more shipping, better writing, and more depth of character later in the series!

“Today we stand together United. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly 80 years ago the largest war in recorded history came to an end.” Professor Ozpin began.

He cleared his throat slightly, “It was a war of ignorance, greed, and oppression,” he paused slightly then continued “A war that was about much more than where borders fell, or whom traded with whom. But the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons. One of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. And, as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for. As a result those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself, color,” he paused slightly to let his words sink in. “It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression but neither would the generations to come and it was a trend that is held to this very day.” 

Ashford looked around, Jaune, Pyrrha's unofficial boyfriend, Weiss the Schnee baroness, Sapphire… Sapphire, it was a trend he’d never thought of but it seemed true enough. She thought back to her entrance exam and the first day she’d spent at beacon, of becoming fast friends with Calia and Azor and the ensuing scuffle. Her brief time as a team leader and the hilarious failure that got that title revoked, as she recalled the time they spent in the wilds outside of town a pain shot in her side, a reminder of old wounds.

Ozpin continued “We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said today we stand together, united.” Again he paused for emphasis, “but this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why, today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsman and Huntresses will work to uphold it. But, no matter which path you choose remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best.” It was over, Ozpin’s speech was finished and the students began to disperse, Team ASCH made their way back to their dorm together as they almost always did.

Their room in the southernmost dorm was an amalgam of interesting design choices left and right, covered with floral prints, plaids, and a confusing mishmash of neon colors in the most garish way possible. The beds in contrast were both bastions of order in the sea of chaos: both neatly made and consistently colored on both bunks. “Hey, remember when I had the idea to make bunk beds? That was a great idea” Azor reminisced fondly.

“Yeah, it took us weeks to work out the logistics,” Sapphire said shooting daggers with her eyes at Azor who shrunk instinctively, “But I must say it was well worth it, top bunk has it’s advantages,” she giggled slightly. “I never asked, what inspired you to choose bunk beds anyway?” 

“Ruby had them!” Azor shrieked loudly. “I went over one day to ask her about Port’s essay and well let’s just say their room isn’t as cool as ours is!” she said as she plopped down on a beanbag chair in the corner near a window, as she leaned back she knocked her head on the sill with an audible “ow” as a sheathed rapier dropped onto her lap. “What the hell? Why is Winnower here?”

Sapphire looked a tad abashed and motioned towards Azor “Here, let me see it,” and she obliged. “I’ve been practicing and between you and me I don’t think our lockers are too secure. Remember the incident with Jaune?” She said and they all burst out laughing, a moment or so later when the laughter had quieted she added “Besides, never know when you need to be prepared!”

Calia, a short but stout woman sighed “Sapphy, a rocket controlled GPS locker that homes to your position isn’t secure enough for you? Your bedroom is more secure?” Sapphire looked a bit taken aback and Calia added “Not as an attack, just saying, what’s the real reason?” Sapphire smirked and then motioned for the rest of ASCH to follow her outside. 

A few more moments passed and the sun was high in the sky, “Calia, make me a wall.” Calia looked confused but obliged and used her semblance to shape the stone at her feet into a wall, six feet high and a foot thick. Professor Glynda would kill her if she saw, but she was off on official business today so the campus was hers. Sapphire inspected the wall, “Much thicker,” was all she said. Calia shrugged and obliged. “Thicker!” came the reply and Calia threw her all into making a cube, eight feet by eight feet. “That’ll do, thanks!” she said as she ran into the air above the wall.

“Man, I’ll never get over how cool that is,” Ashford said aloud to no one in particular. “Her semblance is the ability to harden air and she uses it to increase her mobility, quite ingenious if you ask me.” she said, and a little louder “Alright, what next, supreme leader?” the moniker had started as a bit of a jab at her totalitarian style of leadership, but eventually when they learned to be a bit more cohesive in battle everything slotted perfectly into place and she enjoyed the nickname.

“Now, my dear friends, you’ll see the fruits of my labour, but first, dear Azor, try to break that slab, and do hurry please… I don’t want Gridelin to catch us.” 

“No problem,” Azor said as sparks appeared around her fists and she prepared to unleash a volley of flames, but as quickly as they had appeared they vanished. “Hey, what gives?” She shrieked in surprise.

“Skydragon!” Sapphire roared and everyone was confused. It was clearly a tandem attack, but none of them knew what it meant. “Lookup.” Ashford intoned into the minds of the collected students, and they saw what Skydragon meant, and they saw what happened to Azor’s flames: Winnower had collected them and the next command came from Sapphire herself “Move!” she said using Ashford’s link and the team scattered just as she released a concussive blast of heat and air that demolished the cube from above sending pebbles, rock, and considerable large chunks in all directions. 

When the smoke had cleared the group realised they were no longer alone, in the courtyard they were joined by Ruby Rose, the first year who had been brought up a few years. “Ah! That was amazing,” she shouted, “Did you make that yourself!? It’s a heavily modified rapier isn’t it? How much dust can it hold?” and a myriad of other questions but was interrupted by the timely, or not so timely, intervention of Professor Gridelin and his impressive stature. “Oops, gotta go, see you guys in class! Sapphire I want to look at your sword later if you don’t mind, bye!” and with that she ran faster than most of her classmates assumed possible of her away from the scene of the crime. 

“That was Miss Rose, was she involved here?” the mountain of a man inclined forcefully. 

“No, sir,” they all said in unison, aligning themselves with what was left of the curb on the courtyard and standing at attention, Sapphire stepped forward “As the leader of team ASCH I take full responsibility, that and it was my idea. I wanted to show off the modifications I made to Winnower, uhh sir.” 

Gridelin sighed, “Your modifications have modified our courtyard, miss Skydocket, I doubt your father would be happy to hear about this,” Sapphire’s face went pale as snow as she began to beg Professor Gridelin continued “So we won’t tell him about it, but please in the future exercise restraint, or you’ll have forced my hand,” the gathered students breathed a sigh of relief, “But your clemency does not come without a price: you’re going to accompany me on my mission. The freedom of choice is the price for my discretion, do you agree?” 

“Wholeheartedly!” she shouted, adding a tentative “sir” as an afterthought. “When are we leaving?” 

“Right now.”

“Oh! Uhm, where are we going?”

“Right here.” 

“Oh!” she shouted less sure of herself and she let out an “Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,” which continued for much longer than it should have, “What is our mission?” 

“Well, the mission hasn’t started yet, you three,” he said gesturing towards Azor, Calia, and Ashford, “Call your lockers, collect your weapons, and return the lockers, I’ll wait.” They produced their scrolls and did so with haste, not wanting to upset the professor, you wouldn’t like professor Gridelin when he’s angry. “Are we all set then? Excellent, now, come at me, and do not hold back, all of you.” 

The girls were all confused, “Wait, professor…” Sapphire began but was cut off as Gridelin hit the ground with a loud thud of his hammer-blade. “He’s serious.” Ash projected and the others nodded in agreement. “Formation Bronze Skies, Tandem 2!” Sapphire shouted and her team sprung into action as she herself took to the skies. “Link!” she shouted and Ashford obliged, opening a channel between all of them via telepathy, “We’re linked,” she said. In response Azor replied “Ash, Ash!” Ashford nodded and Calia used her semblance to crumble the surrounding rock, then Ashford used her telekinesis to produce a cloud of dust.

“Very clever, students, but you’ve also limited your visibility!” He said brandishing his hammer-blade in a defensive stance. “Skydragon.” Sapphire said over the link and Azor brandished as much fire as possible, creating it as quickly as sapphire could siphon it as she was aware what would happen this time, “Miss Haematic, your flames make you an easy target, I suggest you douse them.”

“Much obliged, professor!” Azor shouted and then over link “That’s the best I’ve got, do it now Sapphire, everyone else, move!” As the students moved out of the assembled cloud Gridelin made his move he said “Staccato,” and the cloud dispersed easily, the students looked on incredulously, trying to piece together what had happened. “Do it now, Sapphire,” she said “No holding back!” Azor shouted and Gridelin looked up towards exactly where Sapphire was standing in midair. “Right!”

Sapphire unleashed Winnower’s full capacity at professor Gridlin and frantically thought “Oh no, if I murder a professor will I be expelled?” but her fears were easily put to rest as Gridelin seemed to take the full brunt of the attack with minimal effort, “Impossible!” she shouted and the next moment was a bit of a blur… None of the students really could recall what exactly happened, all they remembered was that Gridelin was standing in the exact same spot as before and a single word “Diminuendo.” They had all accumulated minor scratches and burns, especially Sapphire who had been knocked out of the sky but Azor caught her.” 

“Well done, students.” was all Gridelin had to say.

The gathered students looked dejected, their best efforts lead to nothing but utter defeat and he had the audacity to say ‘Well done’? “Did you really expect to defeat a huntsman such as myself? You put up a valiant effort and your teamwork was phenomenal. None of you attacked as individuals, Miss Ashford connected you all in a way that I could not intercept, despite my best efforts, Miss Celeste provided the materials for your gamit and Miss Skydocket and Miss Haematic worked together wonderfully to create that attack, what did you call it, Miss Skydocket?”

“Skydragon, sir,” she replied curtly. 

“Skydragon, indeed, had I been a lesser foe or a Grimm I maybe wouldn’t be standing here discussing it with you, you’ve all shown exceptional promise and now I want to test your prowess against enemies that are potentially your equal. There is a small village beset by Grimm and I believe we could be of great assistance, of course I could clear the village myself, but your company would be much appreciated and the experience you could have quite valuable in my opinion. So, how about it?”

“We’ve already agreed, professor.” Ashford pointed out and Sapphire glared at her, she recoiled a bit but then shot back. “Well, Sapphire already agreed for us, more aptly.” She pointed out. “But I second her recommendation, to be honest we forgot to select a mission, yours is probably the most interesting we’ll get after such a long time of waiting…” she sighed, “I knew we were forgetting something,” She said over link, unknowingly including professor Gridelin “You really have in incredible gift, the lot of you.” he said over link. 

“Then we leave for the Island of Vandis immediately, I’ll contact Ozpin and let him know I did find a group for this mission after all, make no mistake, this will be a dangerous mission, but I will protect you and together we will protect the people of vale, make your preparations and meet me at the aerodock before four this evening.

 

“Destroy them all,” Octarine Silverfist said motioning to the village across the bay and the gathered Grimm charged across the bridge laying waste to everything and everyone in sight at his command.


End file.
